A Discovery! And Answers

"Fossil hunters have uncovered the greatest rodent that ever lived!"

My god! They've discovered Rodents of Unusual Size! They've found the Fire Swamp. "The Princess Bride" is true!

I just watched that movie the other day with my daughter. I love it, it never gets old. Since I was reminded of "The Princess Bride" I have to tell you my favorite Mandy Patinkin story. A few years back my wife and I went to see Mandy Patinkin in concert in Tampa, FL. At some point early in the performance a fan sitting close to the stage wished him a happy birthday. He thanked them and acknowledged that, yes it was his birthday. Someone from back stage produced a large sheet cake and the whole audience broke out into happy birthday. He blew out the candles and offers cake to everyone. Then he says, no, wait, we have a show to do let's wait until after the show. Anyone that wants cake stick around and come up on stage after the show. We're all thinking, yeah right, they're going to give cake to the whole audience in the Tampa Center for the Performing Arts. He goes on with his brilliant performance. After the show the lights come up and people start to leave. As we're walking from our seats we notice that indeed, some people are going on stage. So we stayed and joined them. On stage Mandy Patinkin is personally cutting and serving cake to anyone that wants it. I would guess that less than a fourth of the audience stayed but that man cut cake, spoke to, signed autographs for and posed for pictures with every single person that was there. On his birthday. We were never rushed and he actually mingled with people. As if that wasn't cool enough, the person in front of us asked him to do THE line from "The Princess Bride". We were two feet from he when he said "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." That went way beyond cool. And the cake was good too.

Okay. Here are the answers to yesterday's quiz questions:

1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?

The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator, put in the giraffe and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.

2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?

Wrong Answer: Open the refrigerator, put in the elephant and close the refrigerator.
Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your actions.

3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?
Correct Answer: The Elephant. The Elephant is in the refrigerator. This tests your memory.

OK, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your abilities.

4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles.How do you manage it?
Correct Answer: You swim across. All the Crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.


According to Andersen Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the professionals they tested got all questions wrong. But many preschoolers got several correct answers. Anderson Consulting says this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have the brains of a four year old.

With the exception of remembering to take the giraffe out before putting in the elephant, my kids got these right last night. Maybe thay were assuming a really big refrigerator.